Propagation pictures & such, Part II

No Amy... the monarchs will all complete their process before fall.... this group is part of the last brood, so to speak... somehow they will know that when they emerge as butterflies, they have to stock up on nectar, and begin the long migration to Mexico. It's unbelieveably amazing that these tiny creatures can fly 3000 miles, then live there all winter, then make the 3000 mile return trip, to lay the first batch (or brood) of eggs for the new season. There are tagging groups out there that have placed stickers (tags) on the monarch burtterflies, then travelled to the wintering grounds in Mexico, and actually located their tags.

The lunas are the ones that will winter over here, in their cocoons. These cats are eating sweet gum limbs at an astonishing rate! They get bigger by the day, but their process will take some weeks yet. I'll post a photo of one of them the next time I give them fresh sweet gum.

This is a photo of the remaining four monarch cats that we are raising. We selected them of different sizes on purpose, so we could see them all go through the various stages. The only thing I haven't been able to capture with the camera, is the metamorphosis of the cat turning in to the chrysalis... the stages between the two photos above. It only takes about 30 minutes... so typically, we will turn around and they are already a chrysalis. "Fat Boy" did his while I was in Fairfax Monday.

Thanks for your interest!

Karen

Wild Rose................I sure hope you post these pics on the butterfly and hummer site............the people on the site like "Cat" will be so excited to see them............

Those are just wonderful, Karen! I guess I'll have to scoot over to the H&B board to find out when, where, and how to get and raise some of those. What an experience it must be! I read the DG article a day or two ago that was about raising them. It was quite informative, but I'm so scared that I'd mess up and kill them. I couldn't stand that. Please keep posting your pictures!

Thanks Gail and Amy...

Yes, I do post over there, and Cat has been helpful. She raises way more than I do, and so many other varieties. There are those over on H&B that raise five, six, or seven varieties every summer... it's truly amazing!

I just posted over here, to share with my friends... I feel closest to you all, as this is where I hang out the most. I was hoping no one would be offended by me posting over here... I just wanted to share....

That is exactly the way I am WildRose.........................I post most everthing here first!! (LOL)

As much as I am a scardy cat when it comes to "creepy crawlies" .... these are just beautiful creatures even in the crawly Cat stage! Maybe I wouldn't be so afraid of them since I know what they become!

I am in Awe of you all who raise these Beautiful Flying Flowers!

I like to feed them, but grow them..............nooooo waaaay..................

Some are worse than others... I couldn't grow something or raise something that gave me the creeps. I told my story to Amy, about my bug phobia. If something flies at me, or lands on me... I'll nearly break my neck to get away or get it off of me... then do my "heebie-jeebie" dance!

But once I've ID's it, I'm OK. I DON'T LIKE SPIDERS AT ALL!!! I have been known to wage all-out war against black widows.

BTW... I have another monarch cat transforming tonight... hope I can get some photos of this one.

The funny part is what we like and are afraid of in the way of little things..............I am terrified of anything squishy like a worm...............but wasps, bees don't bother me a bit.......neither do spiders.............I was taking a nap yesterday afternoon (I have been having problems with a lot of big wasp nests outside and in the storage building.............must not care enough because i could get some spray and knock them down) when I suddenly awakened to a wasp in my ear stinging me.....................
I didn't, at the time know what had been in my ear, and I just (in my sleep) slapped at whatever it was..............About two hours later I walked through my bedroom to the bath and look what was on the floor..........I must have walloped him good with my hand............
Bees, wasps , spiders, etc don't bother me at all...............I wouldn't touch one of those caterpillars (sp?) for anything..........not even afraid of snakes.................

Ok Gail, I will send all the snakes in my yard to you! I was out in my backyard this morning and a black snake startled me ... I ran the other way into the back door and didn't go back out there all day! I know the black snakes are not poisonous but all snakes scare the bejeebies out of me! I don't like spiders, roaches or wasps either but I keep bug spray handy for those things! I sprayed a huge spider last week! ugh .... don't even like to think about spiders and snakes, they make me nervous!

........ I gotta mow my lawn tomorrow but at least with a riding mower I won't step on a snake in the grass!

Catepillars are kinda scary but I like them cause I know they are gonna be moths or butterflies! I wouldn't want one to crawl on me though!

I used to catch snakes and put em down peoples shirts....

Nahhh... I don't mind the snakes either... but they can startle the heck out of me!

Eeeeeeeeek!

My husband always liked snakes when he was a kid. We've been married 38 years and he used to want a snake as a pet. I told him many years ago if a snake moved in, I was moving out! He knows how to get rid of me if he ever gets tired of me. :)

Oh, no snakes, thank you very much! They terrify me! You know what else is a living nightmare for me? Mice. Ugh. They're simply more than I can handle. We're not even going to discuss rats...

Most spiders don't bother me, as long as they're not on me, then, I'm sure my heebie-jeebie dance would rival yours, Karen! LOL We have a nice colony of bug-eating spiders that live next to the back porch lights. They eat lots of bugs, so I'm ok with them, except for the rare occasion when one builds a web across the doorway. I've learned to open the door, look, then walk through. LOL

Bees and wasps don't bother me much. I leave them alone and they do the same. Yellowjackets and hornets are meaner so they do scare me a bit.

We have lots of those blue-tailed lizards. I'm not scared of them at all, but they'll shoot out from under a plant like a bolt of greased lightning and startle the living daylights out of me! LOL

hehe...I saw one the other day...a snake...took my little dog over to meet it "Sandi, come see the snake" I said...she stuck her nose up to him after a bit of dodging and jumping like spaniels do, and WHOMP bit her right on the end of the nose....shoulda seen the dirty look she gave me!!! Just a grass snake, they are just like a suction cup, no teeth me thinks....I still giggle when i recall that look she gave me..

Threegardeners! I betcha Sandi won't "come see the snake" next time. LOL. I think she will really give you a look if she ever sees a snake again! :)

LOL...but I bet she would...just today I said "Sandi, come see a toad".....and she did!!! I just love how she dekes and dodges when she's not sure of something...gets on her belly and crawls up to it!!

Ooooh, I miss having a dog in the family! I can just picture Sandi checking out "her" world!

Since this is the propogation forum (and no, this is not about caterpillars) I thought I would share with all of you...

Both pots of episcia 'Choc. Velour' have started blooming, and my large 'Kee-wee' is STILL blooming after all these months... so I made my first attempt this morning to pollinate blooms. Now I'm not mixing anything yet... no hybridizing yet... I want to see if this will actually work first. All three pots got part of the "action". They are all back on their shelves resting now... LOL!

Stay tuned!

Ooooh .... Chocolate Kee Wee .... sounds like a wonderful combination!

LOL Good for you, Karen!! Be warned, though...it's an addictive thing, pollination. ;o) Do keep us posted on how it goes.

The Chirita might-be-a-seed-pod I posted a picture of evidently wasn't. It had gone mushy this morning. That's alright, though. It was my first attempt at pollination of a Chirita. I'll just try again. :o)

No, no! Not yet! Just Choc x self, or Kee-wee x self! LOL! Good name though!

If this works, then maybe 'Chocolate Kee-wee' in the future!

Well everybody seems interested in seed right now, and they are a good project in cooler months, so I thought I would give it a try! We'll see!

I wish I had the patience for pollinating.

Ain't he cute! Tonight's photo of one of my luna cats...

He is cute! And, you take such nice photographs. My compliments...

Oh...............I wish you all the luck but 'ain't' cute................worms gross me out (LOL)

But, it's not a worm ..... it's a cute catepillar!

Lin, anything 'squishy' is a worm to me................

I love it, Karen! :o)

I have been on the hoya forum tonight.....................could be just one more obsession.......haven't decided yet...................

Hello everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To the beach all day with daughter's family............the kids and i swam for 2 hours in the gulf and then played football on the beach..................there is not one part of my body that is not sore.........(LOL).................

I wanted to share something very special with you all tonight... and no, it's not caterpillars! LOL!!! But first, I must tell you a story.

My Grandma Rose was a dear, sweet woman... everything you can imagine a grandma being. Now I'm not saying that at least the majority of us haven't had or don't currently have the world's greatest grandma... but I was blessed with two in my lifetime... and one was my Grandma Rose. She was born Lillie Rose Brinkley, but when she married my Grand-daddy, she then became Lillie B. Rose, as my maiden name is also Rose... hence, she was and is forever grandma Rose. She lived alone after my Grand-daddy died, and lived on her own until her death three weeks before her 96th birthday. She died at home, where she wanted to be... but she passed suddenly, and I was with her the night she passed, and I tried to save her... as a matter of fact, she was my first "call" as a new EMT... and I worked with the rest of my volunteer ambulance crew to try and save her. I was pretty useless, all things considering... but I vowed on teh day of her funeral to become a medic, and never feel that helpless trying to save someone again. And I did... and became a pretty good one too... at least until my injury this past year. My Grandma Rose has always had a pretty big place in my heart and she has been with me, and "spoken" to me a time or two when things were tough.

Now you all know from some of our chit-chat that though I'm not too good with the AVs, I particularly like the variegated ones. I was at a friend's house one day, and admired a big ol' variegated AV on her windowsill... and she said, "Oh, that's Grandma Rose!" Well... I didn't know if she was serious or not, but I asked her if I could have a leaf from her AV, and she gave me one. At that time I only had three AVs, and they had run their bloom out, and just kinda sitting there (still are...) so I wasn't sure how much luck I would have... but I put down that leaf the way most of you all talk about doing it... on June 2nd. I also looked up my little leaf... to find out, sure enough, there is a 'Sonoma's Grandma Rose'! Not only is it described as a red-backed variegate, but also has fantasy bloom (Cool! I like fantasy too!)

After the first two months, while the leaf itself still looked good, I saw no sign of any "ears" as you call it... so I kinda quit looking at it very much. Tonight I looked... to check for water needs... the leaf had curled down to make a little umbrella... but I thought I could see something under there... so I pulled the leaf back, and then cut it back... because this is what I found!

and, now you are hooked forever on propagating avs.................loved your story...........special grandma..................

I first started in gessies with an episcia, in memory of my aunt who grew "flame violets" in her window of the assisted living facility where she lived. She was rooting me a cutting of one when she passed... so I got 'Kee-wee' to honor her.

Now I have 'Grandma Rose'... to let me know I'm going to be OK, even though I'm going through some rough times again. It makes me happy... 8*)

Now I just need to find one named 'Venus'... for my other grandma...

You all have a bleesed night now...

Karen

Oh Karen, what a touching story.....I can relate...

GH

Karen, what a sweet, lovely story about your Grandma Rose! I do believe she had a hand in you "finding" that AV with her name! Sometimes things like that happen for a reason! You will have to keep us all posted on the progress of that Special AV!!

The only plants I know of with the name Venus is the Venus Flytrap and I think there's a Venus Fern. Maybe you can find something with Grandma Venus' middle name?


Thank you for sharing your wonderful story!

Lin

Is it appropriate to name your plants after someone special to you? I recenty had a VERY close family member die and afterwards, I got some plants/cuttings passed on to me. Most of them are plain old plants, but they are the most sentimental in my collection. So, what I did was write the botanical name on the marker and after that, put my relative's name. Is that okay?
From my dear relative, I got:
Philodendron Scandens cuttings
Schlumbergera Truncata 'Dark Marie' cuttings
Syngonium Podophyllum plant
Wandering Jew(green and white strips, looks kinda like Mexican Flag)
Dragon Wing begonia(red blooming)
A 30+ year old pot of Amaryllis 'Voodoo'- It was gifted to her for her retirement that many years ago.

I'm sorry, I just felt a need to share..........thanks for reading.

GH

GH: I think it's wonderful to name your plants after loved ones! Officially they won't have that name, but as long as they are in your household and you aren't selling them with a new name I think it's perfectly fine. A "forever" memory of your loved one .... you can keep cuttings going for many years to come and pass them on to other family members with the "history"!